Skip to content
CurveScout

CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo and Central E. de Santonje

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
325 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 59
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

325 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 8 h 59 of riding. On the way it passes Abrigo del Engarbo, Letreros de los mártires, Central E. de Santonje and back through Letreros de los mártires. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo

    Nerpio sits high in the Sierra del Segura, in the southwest of Albacete, about eleven hundred metres up, and it feels like an outpost of the Andalusian mountains that happens to be in Castile-La Mancha. The village is small, with roughly sixteen hundred people, and the countryside around is a deep, rumpled landscape of pine forest, rock outcrops and tiny cultivated valleys. More than forty rock shelters with paintings have been found in the area, making Nerpio one of the richest places for prehistoric art in Spain, with paintings in red showing animals, hunters and abstract signs.

    Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.

  2. 2. Abrigo del Engarbo

    Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.

    Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Abrigo del Engarbo comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Letreros de los mártires.

  3. 3. Letreros de los mártires

    Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.

    Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 106 km into the recorded legs you reach Letreros de los mártires. Next is Central E. de Santonje, 31 km on.

  4. 4. Central E. de Santonje

    The Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, is now the symbol of the whole province of Almería, painted on houses, cars and souvenirs, and it comes from a rock shelter here in the hills around Vélez-Blanco. The Cueva de los Letreros, a few kilometres from this point, holds the original among other paintings of the Levantine and schematic styles, and the shelters of the Sierra de María are part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, inscribed in 1998. Santonje, as the area is called, is one of a cluster of sites in these mountains.

    Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Central E. de Santonje, about halfway. Next is back through Letreros de los mártires.

  5. 5. back through Letreros de los mártires

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Letreros de los mártires sits at 125 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del Engarbo.

  6. 6. back through Abrigo del Engarbo

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Abrigo del Engarbo comes up about 264 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo.

  7. 7. Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo closes the day.

Leg by leg

Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo to Abrigo del Engarbo

Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo → Abrigo del Engarbo is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Abrigo del Engarbo to Letreros de los mártires

Abrigo del Engarbo → Letreros de los mártires is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Letreros de los mártires to Central E. de Santonje

Letreros de los mártires → Central E. de Santonje is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Central E. de Santonje to back through Letreros de los mártires

Central E. de Santonje → back through Letreros de los mártires is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Letreros de los mártires to back through Abrigo del Engarbo

back through Letreros de los mártires → back through Abrigo del Engarbo is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Abrigo del Engarbo to Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo

back through Abrigo del Engarbo → Abrigo de la fuente del Sapo is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

More motorcycle rides nearby